1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a production method for an oxidized carbon thin film that is a carbon thin film having an oxidized portion composed of oxidized carbon. The present disclosure relates also to an element having the oxidized carbon thin film and a production method for the element.
2. Description of Related Art
A substance composed of carbon (C) has a wide variety of structures ranging from a sheet, a nanotube, and a horn to a ball such as C60 fullerene, as well as diamond. Further, the physical properties thereof provides a rich variety as much as or more than its forms. Such a rich variety of properties promotes diligent research and development relating to applications of the substance. Carbon thin films can be mentioned as one of such substances composed of carbon. Among them, the carbon thin film composed of one or several carbon atom layers in which carbon atoms are bonded via sp2 bond is called graphene. Graphene is a substance whose isolation was achieved in 2004, and its peculiar properties as a two dimensional semimetal are now being revealed (Science, vol. 306, pp. 666-669 (2004)). Graphene has a peculiar band structure in which π bands having a linear band dispersion intersect at the Fermi energy. Therefore, graphene is expected to have high carrier (electron and hole) mobility that is at least 10 times that of silicon (Si). The use of graphene may allow high-speed and low-consumption electronic devices to be achieved.
In the case of using graphene for electronic devices (for example, field-effect elements such as a transistor), it may be necessary to suppress the extremely high electrical conductivity of graphene. JP 2009-182173 A and Science, vol. 319, pp. 1229-1232 (2008) disclose that when the width of graphene in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier is set to several nanometers to several tens of nanometers, one-dimensional quantum confinement effect is exerted in graphene in the section having such a width, and that, on the basis of this effect, graphene in this section can be used as a semiconductor having an energy gap of about sub-eV to several eV.
JP 2009-182173 A and Science, vol. 306, pp. 666-669 (2004) disclose methods for patterning graphene into fine patterns by electron beam lithography and dry etching using oxygen plasma.
Science, vol. 319, pp. 1229-1232 (2008) discloses a method for fine fabrication of graphene using ultrasound.
Applied Physics Letters, vol. 94, 082107 (2009) discloses the fine fabrication of graphene by anode oxidation using the needle of an atomic force microscope (AFM).